There is a vast difference in knowing someone by head knowledge and actually knowing them with one's heart. For example, it may be that a person knows “about” someone famous, but they do not actually “know” them on a personal level. For many, this is their relationship with God. They know “about” Him, they have heard “about” Him, and they may have even read or experienced something “about” Him, but they do not actually “know” Him. John the Apostle seeks to remedy this “knowing” of God through His five chapter letter that we call First John, and by reading his words, a person can come to really “know” God and have a relationship with Him.
First, how does a person “know” that God loves them? In Chapter three and verse sixteen John says:
“Hereby perceive we the love [of God], because he laid down his life for us:”
When Jesus came to the Earth, He came for one reason, “to seek and to save that which was lost”, and the way that He did this was to die on the cross for everyone's sin. He “laid down his life for us”. There are no other examples, no other references, and no other ways that He needs to show that He loves us. He gave His sinless life as a substitute for our sinful life, and as the scripture says, “Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.”
Next, how does a person “know” that he or she is of the truth? John says in Chapter three verse nineteen:
“And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him.”
This goes along with verse eighteen of the same chapter that says:
“My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.”
What a person “does” reveals a lot about what they actually believe. For example, if a person says, “I hate hot fudge Sundays” and yet eats five of them, that person's statement might be greatly doubted. Or if a person says, “I love everyone” and steals from, curses, and fights with everyone they know, their proclamation would be false. Their actions speak louder than their words. John's little book is meant to help a person to not only “say” they know God, but live in a manner that demonstrates that they do.
John reveals more ways for a person to know God, but we shall take them up tomorrow.
Until tomorrow...there is more...
Look for the new devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation” in all major bookstore sites, www.amazon.com ; www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, find locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore
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